Innovation

Virgil Winston:Marketing Guru

One of the main perks of ‘Gurudom’ is the opportunity to get a sneak peek at cool products that haven’t hit the marketplace. I attended a conference last week that was all about technology and innovation—and one of the most amazing innovations I saw was 3-D HD TV. I slipped on a pair of semi stylish glasses and was instantly transported to another plane of home entertainment. It’s one thing to see a 3-D movie in a theatre, but it’s quite astounding to experience it right in one’s own living room. The demo I saw featured sports, movies and concert footage. Monday night football will never be the same when fans can sit on their couches and see tiny footballs hurtling toward them. It was like having seats right on the fifty-yard line—truly amazing. I don’t know when it will be available to purchase but I will be the first in line.

As I watched the future of television viewing I couldn’t help but think about the first time I saw a 3-D movie with my Dad. It was a sci-fi movie called, “The Bubble.” I don’t remember much about the film, but I loved the two-tone glasses so much I wore them to bed for a week, until they eventually fell apart at the seams. As a kid, watching a movie in 3-D was an astonishing innovation and I felt a bit of that same child-like wonder as I watched Tom Brady throw a bomb down the field and felt myself duck as the ball hurtled toward me. I was blown away be the color, clarity and depth of what I saw and I marveled at how far technology has come. My son would have loved playing the 3-D video game console but it made my middle aged constitution slightly nauseous.

Perhaps slightly less sexy, but no less innovative, was the Q&A session I attended with the co-inventor of USB technology. The USB may not be as flashy as a 3-D video game but it is something that almost every person uses almost every day. We use USBs to print important documents, download pictures of our kids’ soccer game and transfer important information. So it’s only fitting that today’s offering is the Halo Series 4 GB USB Flash Drive. It is amazingly thin and incredibly compact and represents the latest developments in USB Flash Drive design. Despite its small size, this model features a good brandable area, which can be screen-printed in color or laser engraved to showcase your logo on both sides.

Well, I’ve got to go prepare for the first annual Guru Conference in Flagstaff. Until next time, remember these words form another amazing innovator, Steve Jobs, who said, “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.”